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Lost: 380 tons of high explosives - Last seen in Iraq
mr.Curmudgeon:
And finally, I'd invite anyone whose even in the least bit curious to actually *watch* the press conference and tell me these guys aren't up a river without a paddle. It's a total GOP meltdown and it's disgusting to watch them hide behind a soldier who probably still has sand in his boots after being swept out of Iraq to cover Bush's ass.
rtsp://video.c-span.org/project/iraq/iraq102904_dod.rm?mode=compact (Real Video Stream/Via: CSPAN)
patrickl:
I couldn't watch the video on your link, but I saw the press conference on CNN and I felt really sorry for that army guy too. He was clearly not comfortable with the whole situation and he didn't even know any answers. Just like the satellite picture showing "trucks in front of bunkers loading (or maybe even unloading?) stuff" he "moved stuff from bunkers".
What was even more pathetic was that you could see he was drilled to give the answers he gave. The spokesperson (Di Rita?) was nodding and almost mouthing the words when the soldier spoke his standard catch phrases: "We were there to minimalize damages to bla bla bla bla ...".
But as I said before, at least they came of their asses after the proof was show that the stuff was still there on april 18th. They had a month to come up with a good answer and now all of a sudden they drop this poor guy in the sharktank to cover their asses. Deeply sad.
Crazy Cooter:
--- Quote from: DrewKaree on October 29, 2004, 09:46:25 pm ---Who had information, what was this information, and where was this information?
--- End quote ---
[Sorry it took awhile to get back Drew] That info is what I'm trying to find out. If the IAEA rated that place as one of, if not the most important areas for weapons, why didn't we know about it and want to secure it? Shouldn't we have studied that kind of information before going in?
So far:
"The explosives were known to have been housed in storage bunkers at the sprawling Al-Qaqaa complex and nearby structures. U.N. nuclear inspectors placed fresh seals over the bunker doors in January 2003. The inspectors visited Al-Qaqaa for the last time that March 15 and reported that the seals were not broken, concluding that the weapons were still inside at the time."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6323933
So the UN knew the stuff was there, the IAEA knew, wouldn't that make it very easy for us to know? Then we should have checked to see if it was there at the first visit. If so, secure it. It just doesn't make any sense to tell those guys to "rest at the giant explosives depot, then continue to Bagdhad". Those guys on the videos didn't even know what the seal meant. The Bush Administration messed up. That's the only conclusion I can come to. It's not the field guys fault when they weren't told about it or what the seals even meant.
(enter Bush) It's what you call a... lack of intelligence. (que smirk)
DrewKaree:
"Back in 1995 the UN was asked to destroy these explosives. They didn't do so on the basis that they weren't part of a WMD program and therefore they weren't that important, and it was Hans Blix that ran the International Atomic Energy Agency at that point.
One of his underlings, one of his interns was Mohammed ElBaradei. So what they did instead of destroying the explosives, they sealed them. Today we learn that the seals were ineffective because of ventilation slats on the sides of the Al Qaqaa dump! So the seals were ineffective. This is a botched job from the get-go by the IAEA and it is apparent that what's happening here is the UN botched this and is trying to shift blame to the Bush administration -- with the willing accomplices and the assistance of the New York Times, CBS and the John Kerry campaign."
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Is that the info we should have had and worked on accordingly? That seals were placed on "non-important weapons", and only now, less than a week before the elections, coincidentally
::) has it just been discovered that these indeed were worth protecting?
Really, what is it? The info we went to war on you guys call B.S. on, yet we are supposed to have acted with surety and decisive action based on info from the U.N.
Then, according to the inspectors, there were no WMD's, these powders were cosidered to be non-important, and NOW these powders should have been protected with all the security measures Bush could dream up,
The purpose of these powders is that they are meant to be used with WMD's, and although WMD's "NEVER EXISTED" ::) in Iraq, NOW you feel some outrage over the fact that these items were removed somehow, some time, although the time, person, and date they were removed has never been given. You too are willing to run with a story that thus far is over a year old and has the specifics of a guess at the amount of jellybeans in a jar.
What's next? Are we gonna find out that the "weapons" being sold to Sadaam in violation of the sanctions were really blowdart guns ::)
There's a few more days.....hey, I opened my window and felt the wind blowing. Does that mean a few MORE of your positions are gonna change?
DrewKaree:
If this guy's a Brit, then there truly IS hope for England! Here's hoping more of them read and hold his opinion than we have been led to believe by the people who serve as mouthpieces for them. I suspect it IS more like this, we just have to grease the pieholes of those few squeaky wheels
But for all this, if I had a vote on Tuesday I would be voting to re-elect President Bush.
It is partly Mr Bush